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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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News Highlight (The National Gendarmerie did it again! Stabilized the chaos in Hampton’s Districts 17, 18, and 19! ‘Jewelry Store Robbers’ now publicly wanted)
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BEST1
Just how strong is that Commander… Was a National Gendarmerie motorcycle helmet something that shatters just by being slammed down? No matter how much corruption there is in the defense industry, the quality wasn’t that low, was it?
BEST2
Phantom Thief.¹ ㅠㅠㅠ. Please marry me♡
BEST3
This comment has been deleted (Original post: This is fabricated. Originally, it was a scene of the Gendarmerie chasing and losing armed robbers in Hampton, but all of that disappeared and it was deceptively edited to look like a civil unrest incident in Hampton…)
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“What is all this?”
What greeted Leticia when she arrived at work were reports she couldn’t make any sense of. Fortunately, an intelligence officer gave her a brief rundown.
“Did you see the news yesterday? On the overpass connecting District 17 and District 18, a woman in a skintight leather suit holding grenade launchers in both hands…”
“I saw it.”
Leticia flinched, but she forced herself to answer calmly. The intelligence officer seemed to be glancing at her cautiously, but she thought it was probably just her guilty conscience acting up.²
“The matter has gotten a bit complicated. You know Cassandra Wilson, don’t you? The senior researcher at the Bureau of Disease Control. She was a top-priority surveillance target for the special task force, wasn’t she?”
“I know that, too.”
“It seems Cassandra and her crew robbed a jewelry store inside the Safe Zone. They took a civilian man and woman hostage and fled in three modified pickup trucks.”
This was a story Leticia also knew.
Commander Virginia had blocked off all gates except for Gate 4. The plan was to cause a traffic jam to tie up the crew’s movements.
In response, Cassandra’s crew blew up the Safe Zone fence with explosives, and as a contingency, the Commander mobilized a large number of motorcycle patrol units from the 8th and 14th Gendarmerie.
“But then the thieves scattered the jewels all over the street. You know how they had permitted civilians to be armed with automatic rifles for the reconstruction work in Hampton’s outer districts. The armed civilians tried to pour onto the roads, the Gendarmerie tried to block them, and it was the most chaotic mess you could imagine. And in the middle of all that, Cassandra’s crew got away.”
“Because of this pervert in the skintight suit?”³
Feeling that pang of guilt again, Leticia pointed at the reference photo—that is, at herself. She thought again how fortunate it was that she had covered her face. It might have been her imagination, but it felt like the intelligence officer glanced at her again with a ‘peek’.
‘No. I made a perfect escape. Let’s not get worked up.’
Leticia calmed her heart.
In truth, that hadn’t been the entirety of her plan. She had, of course, prepared for what came after.
Her original plan had been to steal Gendarmerie equipment to separate the pursuers from the citizens, follow the fleeing vehicle alone to arrest the ‘warmonger’ Camilla and the ‘major criminal’ Cassandra, and finally, to rescue the innocent citizen, Caesar.
But that magnificent plan had gone up in smoke.
‘Can a person really scream like that with their raw voice?’
She probably wouldn’t have screamed like that even if she’d let her parents’ murderer escape. Virginia’s hate-filled cry echoed between the buildings. The cry was so terrifying her legs had nearly gone numb.⁴
It wasn’t just her own experience. Even the Gendarmerie members who had been trying to catch her had staggered. In that moment, what allowed Leticia to escape wasn’t the thought that she had to save Caesar.
It was the desperation of feeling that getting caught in such a shameful outfit would be worse than death. But when she finally escaped, she felt a certain thrill.
A sense of liberation, catharsis, and a pounding heart, just like when she had inadvertently shown Caesar her underwear, or when she had strode down the street with her thighs fully exposed.
‘…So this is what it feels like to commit a crime and run away.’
She felt as if she were about to cross into a dangerous territory, one where she could somehow find herself understanding criminals.
“Um, are you alright?”
The intelligence officer asked cautiously.
“Hm? Oh, uh? Oh, uh, go on.”
“Anyway, it seems General Kamio Minto is planning to go with this narrative. It’s clear the Gendarmerie let someone get away, but if they admit they lost Cassandra, things would blow up, right? The fact that a senior researcher from the Bureau of Disease Control robbed a jewelry store while holding civilians hostage would be a problem, and so would the fact that the National Gendarmerie was able to pursue her so quickly because they had been surveilling a researcher from the Bureau. Of course, the name ‘Cassandra’ wasn’t explicitly mentioned on television. She was just referred to as a ‘major criminal.’”
“The fallout would be huge. So?”
“So General Minto’s plan is to frame it so that this person in the full-body leather suit did everything.”
Leticia’s heart sank with a thud.
“…Uh. What did you say?”
“It means they’ve packaged it all together as if this woman ordered everything—the major criminals in three separate vehicles robbing the store, scattering the jewels on the street, and revealing herself so her subordinates could escape safely. You know the type, right? The setup with the band of righteous magical girl thieves, burning with their own sense of justice, and the police who understand them but must still uphold the law because the law is the law. This skintight-suit-wearer is the magical girl, and our Commander is the cop. Besides, didn’t she unbecomingly call herself something like Magical Stalking or Smoking or Stocking or whatever?”
“Un, unbecoming?!”
The intelligence officer stared blankly at Leticia.
“Am I wrong? Look at her body type. Even though you can’t see her face, there’s no way she’s a ‘girl,’ right? She looks to be in her mid-to-late twenties, at least. In my opinion, she seems like a delusional person drunk on a hero complex. Anyway, our Gendarmerie General is trying to frame it as this woman being the boss, and our Commander is the one pursuing her… That’s the angle he’s going for.”
In other words, Commander Virginia would be hunting her.
“Isn’t he overplaying his hand? Wasn’t this broadcast live?”
“All the livestream videos have been taken down. Edited versions are being uploaded, and what the panelists said is being dubbed over with post-recordings. There was even a call to the studio from the criminals mid-broadcast, right? They’ve inserted a recording there, too, saying they were acting under the ‘magical girl’s’ orders.”
“That’s impossible.”
“It’s not the first time this has happened, is it? And it has always worked well.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. Why is General Kamio going this far? What does he possibly gain by creating a narrative like this?”
The intelligence officer glanced around furtively before lowering his voice.
“Well, you know how the relationship between Commander Virginia and General Kamio is… uncomfortable in many ways, right?”
“I know.”
Everyone knew that Kamio Minto was an idiot, incompetent, and an old man who only coveted his position. But Virginia was undeniably a young officer who couldn’t control her own impulse to act. It was just that Minto was so widely criticized that Virginia’s own actions—which were serious enough to warrant a court-martial—were often overlooked.
She had been told not to enter the Human Unprotected Zone, but she mobilized a helicopter using her personal connections. And as soon as she heard the news that the 14th Gendarmerie’s command was wiped out, she had stormed into Hampton City Hall, arrested a public official under the mayor’s authority, and then pressured Minto, declaring, ‘Hampton is in crisis, I am proclaiming martial law.’
Of course, Leticia liked Virginia. But it was true she had her doubts—would all of that have been possible if Virginia hadn’t been from the noble Römer family, and if the Helford family hadn’t held the seat of the Römer Senate Speaker? If Leticia herself had done such things, she might have been shot dead on the spot.
“And?”
“Commander Virginia supposedly told them to cut the broadcast cameras. But General Minto apparently just forced it through. Furthermore, rumors are rampant that he’s going to officially assign her the ‘mission to arrest the phantom thief hiding somewhere in Hampton.’”
Leticia’s face went pale. The situation was spiraling in a direction she had never intended. All she had wanted was to save one man she wanted to get closer to, but who knew trying to get married could be this hard.
“…So you’re saying all this is just a scheme to humiliate our Commander?”
“That’s part of it.”
“Then what else?”
“This part is almost certain, but rumors are rife that the 14th Gendarmerie will be disbanded. And that there will be an intense investigation into the surviving officers. No matter how you look at it, having their command structure and communication network paralyzed by the Liberation Army overnight just doesn’t add up. It means there’s a spy on the inside, that’s what. Instead, the 8th Gendarmerie is set to absorb its organization, personnel, and duties. Our numbers are about to double.”
“In that case…”
“Of course, disbanding and reorganizing a unit isn’t that unusual. It happened quite frequently during the war, and there are precedents and procedures, so it would probably be over surprisingly quickly. But naturally, there would be gossip. That’s why General Minto plans to push Commander Virginia to the forefront. He’ll have her do more public activities, grant her more titles, and… it’s a bit awkward to say, but she has a likable appearance, plus, she makes a huge impact, doesn’t she?”
Leticia barely managed to hold on to her fleeing sanity. The intelligence officer, oblivious to her inner turmoil, rambled on, laying out this utterly dreadful future for her.
“He’ll tie her hands by exposing her to the public and the media so she can’t make any sudden moves, and he’ll tighten control within Hampton under the pretext of catching the ‘phantom thief.’ From now on, everything Commander Virginia does will be credited to General Minto’s achievements. Everyone knows who the superior officer is, after all.”
“…What did the Commander… say?”
“Um. She said something rather terrifying.”
Leticia swallowed a dry gulp of saliva. The officer looked a little sick just recalling it.
“…She said she would cut off this ‘skintight-suit-wearer’s’ limbs, heal her just enough to keep her alive, and then dump her in the middle of a Human Unprotected Zone. While she’s still conscious.”
“H-Hieeek!”
“I feel like the Commander would actually do it.”
Unable to bear it any longer, Leticia stood up from her seat.
“I think I need to see the Commander.”
“She’s at City Hall right now discussing the unit reorganization.”
Drrrrrring. Drrrrrring. Just then, the phone rang. Leticia answered it with a trembling hand.
“Yes, this is Leticia.”
– Ah, good, you’re at your desk.
It was Commander Virginia. Her voice sounded a little hoarse.
– Did you get the briefing from the intelligence officer?
“I just heard it.”
– Time is short, so I’ll be brief. The merger of the 8th and 14th Gendarmerie has been decided. However, considering that integrating the organizations will take a long time, we’ve decided to create a single temporary department. A Special Public Order Team that will handle public security, investigations, and patrol all at once.
“…Yes?”
It was an organization that sounded absurd to anyone who heard of it.
The National Gendarmerie was a mix of the military and the police. In a country like Elza, it was an institution that held particularly unchecked power. That was why its departments were divided to allow for minimal checks and balances. It was like a final safety net, or a conscience.
But to integrate ‘public security, investigations, and patrol’? That was no different from saying one person would do everything.
– The Special Public Order Team will be in charge of securing internal order in Hampton and handling external affairs. Internally, it will reinforce order, and externally, it will be responsible for active responses and preemptive strikes against the Liberation Army. Additionally, it will be given two special missions: the pursuit of the phantom thief is a public mission, and the arrest of Cassandra Wilson is a classified mission. Use the pretext of carrying out these two missions to further strengthen order within Hampton. Finally, congratulations.
Leticia, who had been using half of her brain to process Virginia’s words and the other half on thoughts like, ‘I want to go home. I want to call Caesar. I should have saved Caesar back then. I wonder if he’s eating properly,’ reacted a little late to the sudden congratulations.
“Co-congratulations… you say?”
– You’re the head of the Special Public Order Team.
“Y-Yes?!”
– It was about time for you to be promoted, wasn’t it? I recommended you myself. With your wisdom, experience, courage, and judgment, you should be able to catch someone like that skintight-suit-wearer in no time. In fact, if you had been by my side, I don’t think I would have lost her like that. Your absence was keenly felt.
“Yeeeesss!”
– Congratulations, Team Leader.
The call ended. As soon as it disconnected, an email regarding her personnel transfer arrived.
“Wow, congratulations on the promotion!”
The members of the intelligence department clapped in unison. The non-commissioned officers who knew of Leticia’s struggles even shed a few tears. The quick-witted corporals and sergeants made an excuse about needing to buy snacks and left.
Leticia wanted to cry.
‘Caesar. Please come get me. They’re telling me to catch myself. What should I do? Please get me out of here.’
Of course, ‘Caesar’ not only couldn’t hear her words, but he also couldn’t have helped even if he had.
Because he was busy stabbing the nape of a zombie’s neck with a long wooden spear.
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Hello to all the readers of this fine novel. So starting from this chapter, the translator of this original novel was changed. So incase you see something different in spelling from the original you knew, feel free to tell me either in the comments or on the discord channel’s complain channel as I can’t really remember all the names. Sorry and thank you for reading.
